Zarco’s helmets are in good hands!

A MotoGP Grand Prix is a huge enterprise designed to generate excitement by combining complementary elements that are all tightly intertwined like teams, suppliers, media, various sellers, reception venues, canteens as well as accessory suppliers. The latter category comprises helmet manufacturers and their race service that looks after the safety and comfort of the riders.

 

 

There are not many jobs like it. Since Shark decided to structure its race support service Jean-Jacques Lacroix travels to all 19 grands prix on the calendar to look after the riders who are under contract to the brand. It too is from Marseille like Jean-Jacques and is already well implanted in the grand prix milieu with Johann Zarco, Jorge Lorenzo and Scott Redding in MotoGP as well as some of the top riders in Moto2. Lacroix has spent a long time working behind the scenes in the Shark Racing Service team so he has become one of the best-known figures in the paddock. He was kind enough to answer our questions.

 

 

 

How many helmets does a rider like Johann Zarcon have at the meetings?

“I try to arrange things so that a rider has five helmets available in case of falls and depending on the weather. If it’s fine I prepare two with dark-tinted visors. Two other helmets are equipped with lightly-tinted visors and there’s also a full rain helmet with a clear visor, joints and a mask to prevent condensation. But if it rains all weekend I will use only one helmet with a dark visor to ensure that I have two rain helmets. You have to keep juggling with the five tints available.”

 

How do you explain this new shape like the helmets used in high-speed skiing?

This aerodynamic device on the back of the helmet is called wings and it ensures a certain continuity of the shape of the bike with the streamlining, the bubble, the head of the rider, the wings, the back protection, and the rear of the bike. This means we have less turbulence and the smoother the air flow the higher the top speed. We’ve checked this in the wind tunnel.

 

 

 

What are your secrets for cleaning helmets?

“There are two Motul products, Helmet & Visor Clean and Helmet Interior Clean, for the outside and inside of the helmet. When we go to races outside Europe, seven times a year, the Sunday evening after the race is also a race against the clock! Everybody has to put away everything as quickly as possible, and at the end of a grand prix during which the riders have sweated a lot, they tend to stow the helmet in its bag and we get it back two weeks later in its original state! That’s when I take apart the interior of the helmet and replace everything except the PS (polystyrene) which can’t be changed. I spray it with the product and we manage to mask the smells! ”